


Between the Lines

by Articient



Series: Lines of Fate [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Palm Reading, Rough Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Articient/pseuds/Articient
Summary: Xaldin and Luxord are on a mission to Port Royal and take a break when it starts to rain. Luxord though has an idea on how to make things interesting with his brooding partner.
Relationships: Luxord/Xaldin (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Lines of Fate [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764544
Kudos: 12





	Between the Lines

**Author's Note:**

> This is one my first fanfic in years! I wrote it in discord after getting some surprising inspiration from the chat. I hope people enjoy it as much as they have. Also, it's nice to be writing like this again!

"I told you it would rain." Luxord said, with a sigh. "It does almost every time I come to Port Royal." 

Xaldin gave the blond the flash of a look of what might be considered annoyance by human standards. Yet he remained silent, stoic as ever as he folded his arms tightly over his chest. Xaldin hated rain. It was cold, annoying, and seemed to sap every drop of his energy as if to force him to take a nap. He refused to sleep which made him much more aggravated.

Luxord could sense the larger man's frustration. Like it was hard. It was as easy to read Xaldin’s annoyance as it was to read a wealthy blowhard sitting at the high rollers table because he could. Still they were under some shelter and the storm would pass soon enough. One might as well make the most of this little reprieve. So, Luxord looked up at Xaldin. They were sitting on a bench under an abandoned stall. Their cloaks were supposed to conceal them from the world, but also luckily no one was coming out in this downpour. 

Giving his most charming but rogue smirk, Luxord scooted a little closer. "No need to pout, Xaldin. I have some ways to keep us...entertained."  
Xaldin huffed, doing his best to avoid looking at the man beside him. Did the Gambler always have to have something up his sleeve? Still...

"What exactly do you propose?" 

"Oh, nothing much!" Luxord chimed. It was a little too chipper for Xaldin's liking but he pushed down whatever memory of a feeling he had. "Just a little something I actually picked up here a while back. Now..." Luxord pulled gently on Xaldin's thick arm. "Give me your hand."

Xaldin's first instinct was to swat Luxord away but he didn't. For a beat, he stayed where he was until he felt a slightly stronger tug on his arm. Xaldin sighed and reluctantly released the desired arm for whatever Luxord was planning. He didn't have the mental energy to fight him and it would have only made his mood worse. Contrary to popular belief in the Organization, Xaldin didn’t actually like being in a bad mood. He just often was and considering some of the antics his fellow members pulled, it was hard not to be at least a little annoyed most of the time. Although Xaldin would have been lying if he said he wasn't at least a little curious what his mission partner had in mind.

"Ah! Very good!" Luxord continued to smirk, pleased with himself. "So glad you're willing to be a good sport!”

"For now." Xaldin added pointedly. 

Luxord chuckled softly and repeated. "For now." 

The Gambler took his prize into his lap with a surprising mix of greed and gentleness. 

"Hmmmm...." Luxord gazed thoughtfully at the hand in his lap. "This won't do." 

Xaldin narrowed his gaze again. The aggravation flaring up again. "What do you m-."

Before Xaldin could finish his sentence, Luxord had slipped himself under Xaldin's open arm and had situated himself with against the other's torso. 

"There! Much better! Warmer too..." Luxord said cheerily. Resting, practically cuddled, against Xaldin, Luxord could much more comfortably examine the hand in front of him. 

"What's your game, Luxord?" Xaldin grumbled. Why couldn't this man just be clear with him? There was always some deception.... 

"No game!" The Gambler responded. "Just getting a better position. Are you not comfortable too?" 

Xaldin sighed. He wasn't about to admit that he did like where Luxord was now. "Just get on with it."

"Oh, don't be like that, love." Luxord said, his smirk still firmly in place. "We're just getting started! Now..." Luxord spread Xaldin's hand wide. Both of his own hands rubbed up the sides, softly massaging the muscles. 

"Hmm...such large hands" Luxord commented. "But let's see what's underneath." Luxord began to gently tug the black leather glove off Xaldin's hand. Xaldin did nothing to stop him. He just continued to watch, hardly noticing that he felt himself slowly starting to relax.

Luxord took his time, gently pulling at the fabric around each digit, until he could easily toss the glove to the side. Luxord resumed gently massaging the now bare hand in front of him. His thumbs wandering over the calluses that had developed over years of training. 

"Not just large hands but hard working ones. You train often, Xaldin." 

"It's what is required of me." Xaldin said simply. "I give all I can to my position." 

"It shows..." Luxord continued to be absorbed in his work on Xaldin's hand. "But let's look a little closer..."

Xaldin watched quietly as Luxord ran his index finger across the lines that crisscrossed across his palm. "There are people here on this world that say we hold our future in our hands. That our destiny is written there. One only needs to learn how to read it." 

"Sounds like some mystic talk to get some coins from desperate fools to me." Xaldin said quietly. 

"Perhaps to some." Luxord responded. "But sometimes it's fun to indulge oneself in a little future seeking." 

Xaldin continued."And you sound like a dealer trying to get coins by luring other desperate fools to your table." 

"And yet, you're here. Are you not enjoying yourself, Xaldin?"

"Just...get on with it, Luxord."

"Gladly," The Gambler said with a smile. "Now where was I...." 

Luxord resumed exploring the lines on Xaldin's palm. "Let's start here." He traced over a line that curved around Xaldin's thumb. "This is the life line. Yours is nice and curved. It means good physical and mental health. Although we didn't need to read that to know that's true, but you could do more to share what's going on in that head of yours." 

Xaldin rolled his eyes. He wasn't exactly the warm sharing type, even as a human. Still he didn't say anything and let Luxord continue his reading. 

"This here is supposed to be your heart line..." Luxord traced a line that went across the top of his palm. 

Xaldin narrowed his eyes at the Gambler. "Is that a joke?" 

"Of course not. We may lack hearts but we still remember somewhat what it was like having them. Don't you, Xaldin?" Xaldin only huffed in response. "Now where yours curves up shows a caring personality. I always knew you had a soft center, Xaldin." 

Now Xaldin was start to feel an inkling of what could be called discomfort. "Maybe once. A long time ago..." 

"Well...maybe you just need to dig a little deeper and you'll find it again." Luxord said. "Or maybe someone else will find it for you." 

Xaldin turned away. He wasn't going to talk about this here and not with Luxord. 

"Oh, come now." Luxord gently pat Xaldin's arm. "We're just about to get to the good part!"

Luxord resumed his attention back to Xaldin's palm. Xaldin only slightly turned back to watch what the Gambler was doing to him. Maybe Xaldin was a fool. Luxord kept saying that line, that it was about to get good, just stringing him along...and yet Xaldin still followed him. Indulging in silly antics that annoyed him with a man that annoyed him…and yet…

"Now this one..." Luxord slowly traced his fingertip down the center or Xaldin's palm. "This is my favorite."

Xaldin had felt the light sensation before of Luxord's fingers passing over his skin, but this one was different. The light tingling sensation shot from his hand and straight up his forearm. Xaldin felt a familiar pull in his abdomen and did his best to pretend he didn't. He didn’t want to feel that. Xaldin took a deep breath to calm himself, silently hoping Luxord was too absorbed in tormenting him to notice. He didn't need anymore of the Gambler's teasing. He didn’t want to recall the memory of those unnecessary feelings.

"This one is called the line of fate" Luxord said. 

"And what does it mean?" 

"It's supposed to signify the affect the world will have on you. And we're in my world now, aren't we?" 

"It’s only the one you're primarily patrolling." Xaldin said bluntly. 

"Well, then what's this?" Luxord said, ignoring Xaldin's comment. He went back to tracing the line again and again causing Xaldin to take another deep breath through his nose.  
"You're line of fate leads right..." Luxord's finger slid off Xaldin's palm and landed right in the middle of Luxord's chest. The Gambler smirked up at the Lancer. "Here."

Xaldin didn't know what to be mad about first. Luxord's smirk. The little game he was playing. The mischievous glint in his blue eyes. The fact that he could feel a familiar and distinct heat rushing across his face and warming his ears. Or the fact that he liked it all and that if he had a heart it would have been trying to beat its way out of his rib cage. But no outburst left Xaldin’s lips that had only dropped slightly nor did he snatch his hand away. And he didn’t want to pull away. The only reaction Xaldin had was his breathing picked up as he stared down at Luxord. He felt caught by the blond's stare and any “feelings” he had were exposed to the other.  
Curse him. He was still a fool... 

"Are you alright, love? You look flush." Luxord raised a hand to trace a finger down the Lancer's sharp jaw.

This time Xaldin gently pushed the other man's hand off him. He couldn't handle another gentle touch.  
"You're nothing but a trickster, Luxord..." Xaldin said quietly. 

"No tricks here, love." Luxord said, retracted his hand from Xaldin's face. He knew when to fold and when to press on. Luxord went back to his work on the Lancer's well worked hands. "I only read what I see." 

"You interpret what you want..." Xaldin said without much thought. 

Luxord kept up his smirk. He wouldn't show Xaldin how that little comment had slightly deflated him. Why was Xaldin like this? He had to have felt this. Luxord saw it in his cards. In his hands that Luxord kept massaging. He knew he didn't read those cards wrong.

"What's this...?" Luxord asked. A faint white line that curved up from Xaldin's wrist and slightly on his palm had caught his eye. 

"Found a line you can't make a story for?" Xaldin said, trying not to pay much attention to the Gambler's actions lest he get drawn back in again. 

"Not line...a scar." Luxord gently traced over, sending a new wave of tingling sensations through Xaldin that he had to swallow down. "What happened?"

"A sparring match when I was young." Xaldin said, looking down , trying to focus on the scar and what had caused it than the person who had asked him about. He would not think of Luxord and his tricks and how close they were. "It knocked my weapon clean out of my hand and I was out of practice for a week. But I came back and kicked the guy's ass the next match we had."

Luxord chuckled. "I'm sure you did. I wish I could have seen that." Without a second thought Luxord brought Xaldin's wrist up and gently kissed up the short length of the scar until he finished it with a kiss on the center of Xaldin's palm.

Xaldin froze. He felt his breath catch in his throat and like he couldn't breathe for a beat. This wasn't fair. He didn't want to "feel" this. He didn't want to be treated this gently. And yet...here he was. "Feeling" this and not even trying to stop it from happening. 

When Xaldin finally managed to take a breath, he grit his teeth. "Damn you, Luxord." 

And damn himself. 

"What?" That was all Luxord managed to get out before Xaldin grabbed him by the jaw with his free hand, turning him so they faced each other. 

Luxord let it happen, perhaps he pushed too much. For a moment they finally looked each other in the eye. For once, Luxord looked into those beautiful violet eyes and didn’t see the usual annoyance or anger. No…this time, he saw confusion and a little bit of pain. Where it came from Luxord could only guess, but he had an instinct that it meant that he had been right. That guess was confirmed as Xaldin closed the distance and kissed Luxord deeply. A deep hum of long denied satisfaction coming from his chest.

Luxord sighed into the kiss, letting Xaldin take the lead as he gripped the front of the larger man's cloak. He let himself get lost in it, savoring the feeling of Xaldin's lips, which were surprisingly soft, against his own. The arm once lax were tight around Luxord's body. Xaldin kissed him hungrily, indulging in what he had denied himself out of fear. Still there came a point where, Xaldin had to break the kiss for air. He tried his best to catch his breath but his eyes still gazed over Luxord's face. He was also trying to catch a breath, his lips slightly swollen from the intensity of the kisses that had passed, and a pink blush dusted across his cheeks. Xaldin leaned down again but had to restrain himself from taking another kiss from the Gambler. It wasn't fair for him to look like this. To undo him like this. To make him confront feelings he was better off pretending didn't exist. It just wasn't fair...

The cry of a seagull took Xaldin's focus away from Luxord. The sky was still grey but the rain had stopped, for now at least. The birds were beginning to come out again and life inside the surrounding could be seen moving about. 

As Xaldin looked out over the town, Luxord took the moment to admire the man holding him so securely. He felt the shadow of a tightness in his chest as he studied the Lancer's strong jaw, the sharp straight nose, the piercing eyes, and strong broad shoulders. Did he know how handsome he was? Luxord hoped he did. He wanted try and stroke that jaw again but held back. Hold. Not yet. 

Xaldin slowly released Luxord, pulling away from the man he had held so dearly. It was all Luxord could do not to pull him back, but again he knew not to push. Not after what he had just recieved after so long. 

"We have a job to do." Xaldin said flatly. "I'm going to scout the fort. See if you can find that Sparrow guy. Then let's RTC." 

"Wait, hold-." But Xaldin left before Luxord could finish his sentence, leaving him alone. 

Luxord sighed and ran a hand through his hair. This had been more than what Luxord had realistically thought would happen, but damn did he want more. That was his own greed though. Luxord glanced to his side and saw the glove he had taken off Xaldin earlier. He picked it up and held it close to him before examining it with a smile. Still though...he had played his cards right so far and perhaps if he continued to do so then maybe he could kiss and know the stories of the other scars he knew laced across the Lancer’s body.


End file.
